Afgri clips poultry division growth

Afgri ended talks with Sovereign Foods earlier this year because it did not want its chicken business to grow disproportionately bigger than the rest of the group, chief executive Chris Venter has now stated.

The poultry division of Afgri produces 650,000 chickens a week, and it is understood that a three way arrangement between Afgri, Sovereign Foods and Country Bird Holdings would produce more than 3 mln birds a week.

"We want to reposition our foods business, but have decided that we do not want our poultry division to produce that many," Venter said.

While the recent tilt at Sovereign Foods was unsuccessful, Venter said Afgri was accessing a number of opportunities in the poultry sector. Afgri envisaged a maximum of 2 transactions to shift production close to the targeted 1.7 mln birds per week, according to Venter.

"We hope to clinch these transactions before the end of this financial year."